The government shutdown.....

[Alan]

In the real world people who get laid off get unemployment. They don’t. Also they have to keep paying daycare for their kids to hold their spots but some pay through their HSA which they don’t have access too. It has been a month. My husband would get laid off and we had savings but he also got unemployment and he would be looking for a job during that time. The mandatory workers can’t do this. Plus people on section 8 housing won’t have their rent paid and how long can landlords go without all their rent? People pay a portion of their rent and are poor, elderly, disabled, etc. What about the people that depend on Snap to eat?

They should contact their congressional representatives and instruct them to quit playing politics and compromise.

[jp1]

Or to contact their president and tell him to quit clinging to his extremely unpopular and worthless wall.

We can go round and round in this circle all day long. But at the end of the day the majority of Americans blame trump and also think the wall is stupid. There is precisely zero benefit for the democrats in giving the dude a mega maga win.

[Alan]

There is precisely zero benefit for the democrats in giving the dude a mega maga win.

You're right, they can keep the government closed indefinitely without being held responsible by their base, so don't be surprised if they do.

[Williamsmith]

It’s never good for the party that is blocking funding to be doing so just because they hate Trump. Is the Children’s Health Insurance Program still being funded?

[jp1]

It’s never good for the party that is blocking funding to be doing so just because they hate Trump. Is the Children’s Health Insurance Program still being funded?

Imdeed. So maybe we can expect mcconnell to bring the house bills before the senate sometime soon? After all they passed unanimously just a month ago in the senate.

[flowerseverywhere]

So if I have understand this right. Trump wants 5 billion for the wall. Our current national debt is 16-20 trillion? That’s @ 5 million times as much as Trump wants for the wall.......and we are quibbling over a stupid wall and ignoring the debt. Gotcha.

Now this wall has been designed by many wonderful architects. One happens to be based in Columbus, Ohio. He submitted a nice design that would extend the entire 2000+ miles, would have archways with human barriers but would allow animals to freely move, a Traffic way on top that would facilitate emergency vehicles, a bicycle path and walkway, infrastructure for security personnel ..... it would be a tourist attraction. All the amazing structures we have built in this country and you are telling me we can’t build a nice little old wall suggesting that everybody follow the same rules to get in the country.

And add another thing ....This is the first time federal workers have EVER missed a paycheck. And they don’t have any emergency fund or contingency plan because they never thought they’d be in the real world where people get laid off and don’t get a paycheck. Well, welcome to the real world. I went without a paycheck several times and never b*tched or moaned. My state didn’t have a budget for over a year.

If TSA workers walk out, I would not be surprised to see them get fired just like the Air Traffic Controllers did back in the Reagan Administration.

What is the cost estimate per mile? How long will it take to build? What about eminent domain? What about the tribal land this would cross? I find it very difficult to believe an administration that cannot even arrange food for a championship team beyond cold McDonalds and Wendy’s would ever pull this off in one hundred years.
how would animals navigate the archways if humans could not? Do you have links to this plan?

[LDAHL]

We don't live in that world.

But we don’t have to live there. So much power needn’t flow from the imperial center to grateful supplicants in the provinces.

[Miss Cellaneous]

So if I have understand this right. Trump wants 5 billion for the wall. Our current national debt is 16-20 trillion? That’s @ 5 million times as much as Trump wants for the wall.......and we are quibbling over a stupid wall and ignoring the debt. Gotcha.

Now this wall has been designed by many wonderful architects. One happens to be based in Columbus, Ohio. He submitted a nice design that would extend the entire 2000+ miles, would have archways with human barriers but would allow animals to freely move, a Traffic way on top that would facilitate emergency vehicles, a bicycle path and walkway, infrastructure for security personnel ..... it would be a tourist attraction. All the amazing structures we have built in this country and you are telling me we can’t build a nice little old wall suggesting that everybody follow the same rules to get in the country.

And add another thing ....This is the first time federal workers have EVER missed a paycheck. And they don’t have any emergency fund or contingency plan because they never thought they’d be in the real world where people get laid off and don’t get a paycheck. Well, welcome to the real world. I went without a paycheck several times and never b*tched or moaned. My state didn’t have a budget for over a year.

If TSA workers walk out, I would not be surprised to see them get fired just like the Air Traffic Controllers did back in the Reagan Administration.

But is all that necessary? I have yet to be convinced by anyone that a wall spanning the entire southern border of the US is necessary. Apparently more terrorist suspects enter the US from Canada than from Mexico. But no one is suggesting a wall on our northern border.

Granted, there is most likely a need for walls on parts of the southern border. But across the entire border? I need more facts to convince me of that.

[Rogar]

So if I have understand this right. Trump wants 5 billion for the wall. Our current national debt is 16-20 trillion? That’s @ 5 million times as much as Trump wants for the wall.......and we are quibbling over a stupid wall and ignoring the debt. Gotcha.

It does seem a little trivial when you look at the big scheme of things. No doubt our government squanders away at least as much on extravagant defense things. Wikipedia says that one B-2 stealth bomber runs about 2 billion when you factor in development and testing costs.

But my take is that the wall debate is a small degree about the cost and practicality of the wall and mostly political posturing and saving face. It's too bad the government workers have to suffer because of dysfunctional politics and political personalities.

[catherine]

But my take is that the wall debate is a small degree about the cost and practicality of the wall and mostly political posturing and saving face. It's too bad the government workers have to suffer because of dysfunctional politics and political personalities.

This is definitely political arm wrestling. Both sides have a lot to lose. If the Dems buckle and give Trump the money for the wall, unless they can impeach him before then, he wins in 2020. If he doesn't get the wall, he might just go off the rails somehow. He's not a gracious loser. (He's not a gracious winner, either.)